Learn Our History Today: On May 8, 1884, U.S. President Harry Truman was born near Lamar, Missouri.


Learn Our History Today: On May 8, 1884, U.S. President Harry Truman was born near Lamar, Missouri. 

First entering politics in 1922 after the haberdashery he ran went bankrupt, Truman took his first public office as a county official before being elected as a Missouri senator in 1934.

 As a senator, Truman rose to prominence through his involvement in the Truman Committee which exposed corruption and fraud in wartime contracts during World War II. This brought him to the attention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who chose him as his running mate in the 1944 election, which the pair won after a very close contest. 

When President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Truman succeeded him as President of the United States, becoming the Commander-in-Chief of a country that was in the midst of fighting one of the deadliest wars in human history. Although Germany looked as if it was ready to crumble, the war with Japan was far from over. Very early in his Presidency, Truman was faced with one of the toughest decisions any President would ever have to make. He knew that Japan would never surrender. They would try to fight it out as long as possible, the majority of their population to be made casualties. This would in turn create huge amounts of American casualties as the troops battled to take over the Japanese homeland. Our soldiers had already seen how brutally the Japanese would fight to protect their homeland. Thousands of Americans had been killed or wounded in the desperate and deadly fighting for Iwo Jima and Okinawa, islands that although they were not part of mainland Japan, were considered to be Japanese soil. 

A desperate and deadly battle for Japan could be avoided, however, with the use of the newly developed atomic bomb, which had enough force to level a whole city in a single blast. Truman could use this new weapon, which might possibly force the Japanese to surrender after they had witnessed its devastating power. However, the massive blast would kill thousands of innocent civilians. In the end, Truman decided in favor of the bomb, with the resulting explosions virtually annihilating the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Just as had been expected, the Japanese quickly surrendered after seeing the devastation of the atom bomb, ending World War II. During the rest of his time as President, Truman saw the country through the early days of the Cold War, in addition to surviving an assassination attempt.  In 1953, Truman retired to his home in Missouri, where he died in 1957.

Also, on this day in U.S. history:
1541: An expedition led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1792: The military draft is established in the United States. 
1958: President Eisenhower orders the National Guard out of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Help us to keep history alive in America by sharing Learn Our History with your kids and grandkids! Try Learn Our History’s new streaming service and access our entire library of animated videos FREE for 7 days! Check out our great streaming options at trylearnourhistory.com.

Image-Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

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